Second step of our overview of food supplements. Stéphane Penso addresses one of the important supplements in the athlete for his recovery: the Magnesium.

Sport is a social issue with regard to the number of participants and the interests it reflects: economic, media or health. High level sports friends, or occasional, your food and micro-nutritional needs differ throughout your life and must be adapted (sport, intensity, environment, diet…).

Nevertheless, here are some essential keys to understanding a good recovery with Magnesium. The purpose of this article is not to re-list all the benefits of a magnesium intake in an athlete, but rather to explain how to make the body benefit from it.

Food supplements necessary for athletes

Many caregivers agree that with a balanced diet of 3000 calories per day, an athlete does not necessarily benefit from all the necessary contributions of vitamins, minerals, fatty acids and others to compensate for his needs greatly increased by practice. intensive sport.

Sport and acidosis

Supplementation with appropriate intakes promotes better recovery and in particular improves the performance of the athlete. The acidosis produced by muscles subjected to prolonged exertion leads to an accumulation of nitrogenous waste in the body which will hamper good performance. Athletes all know the impact of lactic acid on their performance and recovery: cramps, fatigue, etc.

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Effects of ammonium> effects of lactic acid

This muscle clogging by lactic acid cannot be responsible for fatigue and sports injuries on its own. Lactic acid decreases and disappears very quickly. On the other hand, the ammonium produced during the effort stays much longer in the body. This molecule is very toxic to our body and our nerve cells. It is therefore essential that the body evacuates it.

Physiologically it will use urea and glutamine, but this recycling is limited. It is for this reason that the contribution of Magnesium will have to be associated with other combinations (which we will see later) to activate this “cell cleaning” and allow rapid recovery.

Indeed, our energy reserves decrease very quickly during an intensive effort. Food plays a very important role in the athlete, because if it is high protein, it will cause an increase in the ammonium level.

Involved in enzymatic activity and in a very large number of fundamental cellular functions, magnesium is one of the main mineral salts of our body. It would be tedious to list all the functions and interactions caused by its presence, its deficiency or its excess. We will therefore focus on the effects that interest the athlete.

First of all magnesium has an effect muscle relaxant, this is why it is recommended to take it rather in the evening in order to avoid feeling relaxed and giving in to sleep which results from muscle relaxation. For the athlete, the interest will be to avoid cramps and allow training to go further. Indeed, the capacity of the muscle to return to a relaxed state, relaxed, allows a better recovery after each repetition. The muscle benefits more from the exercise, which can then be done with more intensity, more load, or for a longer duration.

At the same time, magnesium plays a central role in the transformation of carbohydrate intake into glycogen stock, which is the main fuel for muscle during exercise. Athletes are more prone to deficiencies than sedentary people because sweating and adrenaline generated by exertion accelerate the loss of magnesium. This magnesium is therefore essential for the release and management of energy, creatine and glycolysis.

Let's just keep the essentials

Among the more general effects of magnesium, we can say that it is involved in glucose metabolism, on insulin sensitivity and incidentally, on blood glucose level. The essential actions of magnesium also continue beyond the recycling of ATP with glycolysis and energy synthesis in the mitochondria. In other words, without magnesium, our muscles and our heart would be unable to synthesize energy.

This is a fact that should be kept in the mind of any professional or amateur athlete.

And if we are talking about enzymes, we must also remember that magnesium is involved in the work of more than 300 of them as a cofactor. Magnesium may play an essential role in nerve transmission, cardiac excitability, neuromuscular conduction, muscle contraction, vasomotor tone, blood pressure, and glucose and insulin metabolism.

Because of this, it plays a major role in disease prevention and overall health. Low levels of magnesium have been linked to a number of chronic diseases, including migraines, Alzheimer's disease, stroke, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and type 2 diabetes mellitus (2 ).

Magnesium can help reduce fatigue, electrolyte balance, maintain normal bones, normal protein synthesis, normal psychological functions, normal nervous system function, normal energy metabolism, and supportive health. normal muscle function.

In summary, magnesium is as good for energy, for your heart, blood pressure, sleep (and post-exercise recovery) as it is for promoting harmonious hormonal release. It also promotes long term muscle growth.

Stéphane Penso

Fan of padel, Stéphane has become the official tester of the planet padel in Europe. Everything goes through his expert hands. Thanks to his extensive experience in the snowshoeing world, he is able to scan your gear from head to toe!

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