Minerals

      Minerals are workout with heavier weights and it is not genetically gifted for bodybuilding, but if you get a chance to hang around the greatest athletes in the sport, you come to realize that it's their concern for the little things, like dietary and training details.

      Many bodybuilders give slight attention to elements in their diets that never provide calories. Regular diet contains plenty of vital components that do more than just provide energy, like supporting muscle tissue, enhancing growth, etc. Micronutrients are very important for bodybuilders than calorie producing nutrients precisely because of other physiological functions.

Importance of dietary mineral in bodybuilding

Magnesium

      Magnesium has a theoretical mechanism of action to help the bodybuilders. It is the most important mineral for bodybuilders. Due to recent studies identifying the performance enhancing benefits of magnesium supplementation. It is very helpful in energy production and protein synthesis.

      During workouts, it losses as sweat. To compensate the losses, intake of foods rich in magnesium like nuts, legumes, and etc.Magnesium supplemented lifters exerted greater quadriceps force that unsupplemented lifters.

      Considering magnesium's role in bodybuilding, factors leading to a possible suboptimal magnesium status in athletes, it's not hard to see why so many sports nutrition specialists working with strength / power athletes are excited about magnesium's potential.

Calcium

      Calcium is the second most important mineral for bodybuilders and most abundant mineral in the body. To maintain 1:1 calcium to phosphorus ratio is difficult for bodybuilders. Many lifters try to avoid dairy products containing calcium because of a relatively unsubstantiated fear that they will smooth them out.

      Typical bodybuilding diet is rich in protein, phosphorus .Excess amounts of calcium to be excreted in urine. Calcium is the primary mineral involved in muscular contraction .The structural stress from weight training requires a steady supply of calcium to maintain high bone density.

      Female bodybuilders need to be especially careful of their dietary calcium intake, as low estrogen levels can contribute to decreased calcium absorption and increased calcium loss. Also, keep in mind that Vitamin D help with calcium absorption, making vitamin D fortified dairy products a good source of this mineral.

Zinc

      Zinc is virtually involved all phases of growth. It is critical for bodybuilders, because high intensity exercise stimulates excessive zinc loss. Further, diets of some athletes have been found to be low in zinc. This potential double edged sword, excess loss coupled with possible low intakes.

Chromium

      Chromium is a substance that helps insulin bind to its receptors on tissues and is the key part of glucose tolerance factor. It helps insulin for transporting glucose, amino acids and fatty acids into cells. Chromium is truly anabolic is a bone of contention among scientists.

      Chromium appears to help glucose metabolism and probably helps in lipid metabolism but has not yet been clearly established to increase lean body mass. Claims of ripped, freakish physiques from chromium supplementation are premature, to say the least.

Sodium

      Sodium is an electrolyte that plays a vital role in the regulation of body fluids. The level of sodium in the body determines the amount of water the body will hold, and high intakes can cause body tissues to swell. Although a normal diet usually contains a reasonable amount of sodium, be careful not to limit sodium intake too much at contest time to get an ultra shredded look.

      An excessively low sodium intake turns on protective mechanisms within the body that cause sodium and water retention. Finally, keep in mind that sodium plays a major role in resistance training; its function in nerve impulse transmission and muscular contraction is critical to bodybuilders.

Phosphorus

      A mineral that is present in the body in large amounts, phosphorus is directly linked to exercise metabolism since it produces high energy molecules such as Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP) and Creatine Phosphate.

      Phosphorus works in conjunction with Calcium, so it's important to keep phosphorus and calcium intakes close to a 1:1 ratio; an imbalance creates a potential nutrition problem. Phosphorus supplementation has been shown to decrease blood lactic acid levels during exercise.

Iron

      Iron is a constituent of hemoglobin and is responsible for oxygen transport and indirectly, subsequent oxidative energy production. Ability to recover between sets is related to the efficiency of your aerobics system. The more oxygen you can supply to your working muscles, the quicker your muscles can recover in time for another hard set.

Vanadium

       Vanadium is a nonelectrolyte mineral. It has received much recent attention in the bodybuilding due to the perceived effects of one of its salt forms, vanadyl sulfate. . Vanadium is to sea creature what iron is to humans; it makes a jellyfish's blood green like iron makes our blood red.

      Although the vast majority of research on Vanadium supplementation has been carried out on diabetic rats, the published results tend to show a promising glycogen storing effect on muscle tissue. This may explain the subjective analysis of some bodybuilders who swear the feel 'harder' after taking vanadyl sulfate.

Copper

      Copper is more vital for bodybuilders. It involves in oxygen transport and utilization. During intense exercises, the copper level has been shown to increase. It leads to conclusion that copper plays a direct role in high intensity muscular work such as bodybuilding, and that there may be conditions under which some bodybuilders ingest suboptimal amounts.

Potassium

      Potassium works closely with sodium to regulate body water levels and it is an important electrolyte found within muscle cells. It plays a critical role in facilitating the electrical potentials across nerve and muscle cells that result in muscle contraction and it is involved in glycogen storage for high intensity muscular energy.

      Low level potassium will lead to improper fluid levels, dehydration, muscle cramps and weakness. Fortunately, dietary intake of potassium is generally not a problem for most people, but bodybuilders should become familiar with its role and the foods where it can be found.