Men’s Health, Exercise Programs & Magnesium

Whether you run, lift weights, swim, cycle or jog, whether your passion is golf, tennis or basketball, you need to know that adequate magnesium supplements improve both …

… strength and endurance and can prevent or reduce muscle cramping during and after exercise program.

In fact, magnesium is a part of and important to over 300 chemical processes in the body including muscle function, energy production, heart, kidney, adrenal, brain and nervous system function as well as digestion, bone formation, creation of new cells, activation of B vitamins and relaxation of the muscles. Magnesium powers our body and gives us good health and yet most of us are deficient in this vital nutrient.

Modern farming practices have depleted the nutrient content of our soils and our foods creating a widespread deficiency in (magnesium) this vital mineral, while the processed foods that we do eat including the energy drinks that we consume further deplete this mineral from our bodies.

With the physical stress of exercise your need for magnesium soars, says Dr. Rosanoff, Director of the Center for Magnesium Education & Research. This includes any kind of stress coming into the body from exercise or physical work, mental and emotional stress, high noise, or any other source. Even someone regularly taking magnesium as part of a dietary program has far greater requirements when they are exercising. Magnesium demand also rises during healing from a bodily trauma such as injury or an operation. Part of any bodily healing should include a really good source of magnesium as well as other essential nutrients, Dr. Rosanoff says.

People with magnesium deficiency tend to have muscle cramping or spasms during or after exercise or strenuous work. They have trouble relaxing and have more anxiety or more irritability. After taking magnesium supplements, I get a lot of reports from people that they start sleeping better right away, they feel calmer, they feel less irritable, they feel more in control; so it begins to affect the day-to-day feeling of well-being. It stops muscle cramping: people who get charlie horses when they stretch their legs at night, those symptoms go away, says Dr. Carolyn Dean, author of The Magnesium Miracle.

If you are exercising regularly, in training or just starting out in a sport, magnesium can help, even if you do not know whether you are deficient or not. Supplementation at a level of 2.3 milligrams of magnesium per pound of body weight per day (this comes to about 345 milligrams per day for a 150 pound person) can really help. As a general rule, when taking magnesium supplements, start at a low dose and gradually build up. If you get diarrhea (too much of a good thing is still too much) you can back off on the dosage until you are at a comfortable level. While magnesium supplementation is generally quite safe, there are circumstances under which you should not take magnesium supplements. For example, people on certain antibiotics should not take magnesium with the antibiotics. If you have kidney disease (renal failure), you must not take any magnesium supplements. People with kidney disorders need to work closely with their doctor to correct any magnesium deficiency and not try to supplement on their own.

There are many forms of magnesium. One of the most absorbable is magnesium citrate in powdered form.