Hammerblow
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Magnesium: Definitely an Essential Nutrient for Bodybuilders
How many of you are concerned about your magnesium levels? Do you even care about magnesium? After reading this post you better be concerned and aware of what your magnesium levels are if you want to maximize your physique. Magnesium has a huge impact on the way your body looks and functions. Besides helping with better sleep and a calmer demeanor, magnesium plays an essential role in fat loss, muscle building and the regulation of cortisol and insulin. Hopefully I have got your attention now.
If you are deficient in magnesium you will be sacrificing the effectiveness of your workouts. A deficiency in this mineral causes widespread inflammation in your body and negatively impacts your cortisol and insulin levels. What this translates into is that you will end up storing more of that stubborn fat and muscle gains will also slow if not be halted altogether.
How Magnesium Affects Muscle Building
There are a few ways that magnesium affects our ability to build muscle. Your muscles need magnesium in order to contract. Simple as that. So if you are deficient in it, you aren’t going to be able to maximally contract your muscles during your workout which is going to suppress your gains. Remember, maximal contraction means maximal gains and you will not be able to work your muscles to failure. They will just peter out without reaching true failure. A study done at the American College of Nutrition showed that lifters who supplemented with 8mg of magnesium per kilo of bodyweight saw greater improvements in their bench and squat than those who took a placebo.
Magnesium is also a key nutrient in repairing and building muscle tissue. This has to do with how magnesium aids in the secretion and function of certain enzymes in the body. When these enzymes are not functioning optimally, protein synthesis is compromised.
Magnesium is also closely tied to testosterone production. Now this may not mean much when you are on cycle since you are supplementing with exogenous test, but it has huge implications when off cycle and can be the key to maintaining gains and building additional muscle. There was a recent study done that showed that supplementing with 10mg/kg of bodyweight per day resulted in a 24% increase in free testosterone. That is huge and I think you realize now how that increase in free test can aid in your muscle building off cycle.
Magnesium Regulates Insulin and Cortisol (Controls fat gain/loss)
All of your intercellular activities are magnesium based. Basically it controls the communication and transport of the hormones in your body. So if you are deficient in magnesium these communication and transport mechanisms are short-circuited. Insulin and cortisol are two of the things affected by magnesium levels.
Insulin Resistance
When the insulin pathways are short-circuited because of a magnesium deficiency, the body becomes more insulin resistant. This is evidenced by the fact that a study showed that 90% of individuals with type 2 diabetes had a magnesium deficiency. Insulin resistant is definitely not a good thing. As the body becomes more resistant to insulin it is unable to effectively transport the glycogen (carbs) in your body through the walls of your muscle where it is burned as fuel. Instead, it gets stored as fat. Definitely not what we are striving to achieve as bodybuilders. On the flip side, when you have the proper amount of magnesium your body actually becomes hypersensitive to insulin and is able to correct any insulin resistance that may have been built up by any deficiencies. What this means in the real world is that you are going to be able to lose fat easier and your body won’t be as prone to storing it. Now that is what we are looking for as bodybuilders.
Cortisol
Just like magnesium affects insulin, it also has a profound effect with regulating cortisol. We all know that cortisol is the stress hormone and excess cortisol is not a good thing. When the body lacks magnesium it becomes over-reactive to stress, which means excess levels of cortisol are going to be released. These excess levels of cortisol are going to lead to increased fat gain, once again not what we want as bodybuilders.
Are your Magnesium Levels Low?
Here is the million dollar question. How do I know if my magnesium is low and affecting my performance and gains in the gym? A simple blood test will reveal that. Here is the key though for your blood test. The only accurate test for magnesium levels in your body is to measure the red blood cell magnesium. The Doc will probably measure the magnesium content in your blood serum but that will not be accurate so you need to specifically ask to test the red blood cell magnesium. The optimal level is around 6.8ml/dl. This level should get you on track to loosing fat, gaining strength, building muscle and sleeping better if you were deficient. An initial goal to shoot for would be around 2,000mg/day.
All Magnesium is not Created Equal
Be careful of the type of magnesium you are taking. What you want to avoid is magnesium oxide. This form is of low quality and has a low bioavailability. A lot of your everyday multi-vitamins may contain this form of magnesium, so find a different brand if it does. What you want to get is the magnesium that is bound to fumerate, threonate, orotate, taurate, or glycinate.
Once you find the right type of magnesium, you should take your doses spread throughout the day. Breakfast, lunch and dinner would be good times to take it.
Final thoughts
Hopefully you have a better understanding and appreciation of the importance of magnesium for your bodybuilding/muscle building efforts. Get those levels tested to be sure you are in the optimum range and your physique will thank you with more lean muscle and less fat.
How many of you are concerned about your magnesium levels? Do you even care about magnesium? After reading this post you better be concerned and aware of what your magnesium levels are if you want to maximize your physique. Magnesium has a huge impact on the way your body looks and functions. Besides helping with better sleep and a calmer demeanor, magnesium plays an essential role in fat loss, muscle building and the regulation of cortisol and insulin. Hopefully I have got your attention now.
If you are deficient in magnesium you will be sacrificing the effectiveness of your workouts. A deficiency in this mineral causes widespread inflammation in your body and negatively impacts your cortisol and insulin levels. What this translates into is that you will end up storing more of that stubborn fat and muscle gains will also slow if not be halted altogether.
How Magnesium Affects Muscle Building
There are a few ways that magnesium affects our ability to build muscle. Your muscles need magnesium in order to contract. Simple as that. So if you are deficient in it, you aren’t going to be able to maximally contract your muscles during your workout which is going to suppress your gains. Remember, maximal contraction means maximal gains and you will not be able to work your muscles to failure. They will just peter out without reaching true failure. A study done at the American College of Nutrition showed that lifters who supplemented with 8mg of magnesium per kilo of bodyweight saw greater improvements in their bench and squat than those who took a placebo.
Magnesium is also a key nutrient in repairing and building muscle tissue. This has to do with how magnesium aids in the secretion and function of certain enzymes in the body. When these enzymes are not functioning optimally, protein synthesis is compromised.
Magnesium is also closely tied to testosterone production. Now this may not mean much when you are on cycle since you are supplementing with exogenous test, but it has huge implications when off cycle and can be the key to maintaining gains and building additional muscle. There was a recent study done that showed that supplementing with 10mg/kg of bodyweight per day resulted in a 24% increase in free testosterone. That is huge and I think you realize now how that increase in free test can aid in your muscle building off cycle.
Magnesium Regulates Insulin and Cortisol (Controls fat gain/loss)
All of your intercellular activities are magnesium based. Basically it controls the communication and transport of the hormones in your body. So if you are deficient in magnesium these communication and transport mechanisms are short-circuited. Insulin and cortisol are two of the things affected by magnesium levels.
Insulin Resistance
When the insulin pathways are short-circuited because of a magnesium deficiency, the body becomes more insulin resistant. This is evidenced by the fact that a study showed that 90% of individuals with type 2 diabetes had a magnesium deficiency. Insulin resistant is definitely not a good thing. As the body becomes more resistant to insulin it is unable to effectively transport the glycogen (carbs) in your body through the walls of your muscle where it is burned as fuel. Instead, it gets stored as fat. Definitely not what we are striving to achieve as bodybuilders. On the flip side, when you have the proper amount of magnesium your body actually becomes hypersensitive to insulin and is able to correct any insulin resistance that may have been built up by any deficiencies. What this means in the real world is that you are going to be able to lose fat easier and your body won’t be as prone to storing it. Now that is what we are looking for as bodybuilders.
Cortisol
Just like magnesium affects insulin, it also has a profound effect with regulating cortisol. We all know that cortisol is the stress hormone and excess cortisol is not a good thing. When the body lacks magnesium it becomes over-reactive to stress, which means excess levels of cortisol are going to be released. These excess levels of cortisol are going to lead to increased fat gain, once again not what we want as bodybuilders.
Are your Magnesium Levels Low?
Here is the million dollar question. How do I know if my magnesium is low and affecting my performance and gains in the gym? A simple blood test will reveal that. Here is the key though for your blood test. The only accurate test for magnesium levels in your body is to measure the red blood cell magnesium. The Doc will probably measure the magnesium content in your blood serum but that will not be accurate so you need to specifically ask to test the red blood cell magnesium. The optimal level is around 6.8ml/dl. This level should get you on track to loosing fat, gaining strength, building muscle and sleeping better if you were deficient. An initial goal to shoot for would be around 2,000mg/day.
All Magnesium is not Created Equal
Be careful of the type of magnesium you are taking. What you want to avoid is magnesium oxide. This form is of low quality and has a low bioavailability. A lot of your everyday multi-vitamins may contain this form of magnesium, so find a different brand if it does. What you want to get is the magnesium that is bound to fumerate, threonate, orotate, taurate, or glycinate.
Once you find the right type of magnesium, you should take your doses spread throughout the day. Breakfast, lunch and dinner would be good times to take it.
Final thoughts
Hopefully you have a better understanding and appreciation of the importance of magnesium for your bodybuilding/muscle building efforts. Get those levels tested to be sure you are in the optimum range and your physique will thank you with more lean muscle and less fat.