What about Magnesium?

Do you constantly battle muscle cramps during intense or long training? Does muscular weakness prevent you from putting forth full effort? Do asthmatic symptoms prevent you from completing workouts? Does it feel as if your heart skips a beat, causing feelings of lightheadedness and dizziness? Are physical returns from an intensive strength training program less than anticipated? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you may be suffering from a magnesium imbalance and consequent hindered endurance performance. The good news is that an imbalance can be corrected relatively quickly (within 48 hours), helping redirect your performance back to your peak. The initial response of physical exercise is an accelerated metabolism, which increases activity within our metabolic pathways. Magnesium is vital for converting glycogen to glucose for use as the body’s fuel during exercise; without this conversion, muscular weakness occurs secondary to depletion of muscle glycogen stores. Magnesium also helps regulate the synthesis of protein, thereby having important implications when looking at recovery from endurance exercise and maintenance of lean mass. Furthermore, because magnesium is directly responsible, along with calcium, for the production of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) or energy during metabolism, proper levels of magnesium are needed for optimal muscle contraction and to sustain the high oxygen consumption necessary for peak endurance performance. And without adequate magnesium, the work of over 300 enzymes become sub-par, ultimately hosting a whole slew of problems, including heart abnormalities, airway constriction, nerve damage and insulin resistance. Scientists believe that endurance athletes may be at heightened risk for magnesium deficiency and consequent health and performance problems as a result of the metabolic response of exercise as well as losses incurred via sweat and urine. This article explores the benefits of attaining magnesium balance through inclusion of magnesium-rich foods in our daily diet as well as replacement of magnesium losses during exercise.