Bodybuilding and Health: the most important vitamins & minerals

Bodybuilding is a sport that, more than any other, revolves around appearance. Physical performance and overall health often take a back seat. We completely understand that getting enough protein might be a bigger priority for you than eating enough greens, especially when you're bulking. However, it’s a shame to neglect your physical health. Believe it or not, certain vitamins and minerals can even improve your performance and gains in the gym! In this article from XXL Nutrition, we’ll list which nutrients are essential for bodybuilding and health.

Vitamin D: Important for Strength Training

You’ve probably heard of Vitamin D. It’s a vitamin that your body produces in the skin when exposed to UV rays, or sunlight. Since the sun in the Netherlands is more often absent than shining, it’s often recommended to supplement with Vitamin D3. It’s widely known that Vitamin D3 plays an important role in maintaining healthy bones, muscles, and the immune system. But did you know it can offer even more? Technically, due to its structure, Vitamin D3 is a steroid hormone, and it’s often classified as a pro-hormone, though a completely legal one. Now, it’s not like Vitamin D3 will boost your testosterone to super-physiological levels, but a deficiency can definitely have a negative impact! One study examined the link between Vitamin D levels and androgen levels in men and found a positive relationship. This suggests that it’s important to get enough Vitamin D while bodybuilding, whether from sunlight or supplements.

How much Vitamin D3 per day?

The Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) is set at 200 IU, but to get all the benefits, a higher dosage is needed. Starting with 1000 IU per day is a good guideline, but no negative effects have been found at doses up to 5000+ IU. Unfortunately, we often see a Vitamin D deficiency, especially in the winter months. That’s why we recommend taking extra Vitamin D3 to keep your levels optimal throughout the year.

Vitamin C Boosts Your Immune System

The next vitamin will be familiar to most people—of course, we’re talking about Vitamin C. Vitamin C is a water-soluble vitamin that also functions as an antioxidant.

Benefits of Vitamin C on Our Body

With today’s diet, scurvy is thankfully no longer an issue, but Vitamin C still offers countless other health benefits. The list is too long to cover in full here, but for strength athletes, Vitamin C contributes to the following:

• Vitamin C boosts your immune system during and after physical exertion.
• Vitamin C activates your body’s natural energy.
• Vitamin C is important for cartilage health.
• Vitamin C helps protect healthy body cells.

It’s clear that Vitamin C, due to its antioxidant properties protecting against free radicals, plays a crucial role in your body. Keep in mind that intensive strength training not only leads to muscle growth but also initially places stress on your body. Cells and tissues are damaged, and only after this can recovery take place. And yes, Vitamin C plays a key role in that recovery process.

Are you a picky eater but still want to give your immune system a boost? You can always take extra Vitamin C. A good Vitamin C supplement contains a healthy dose of ascorbic acid and helps ensure you get enough every day.

Magnesium for Proper Muscle Function

Magnesium is an intriguing mineral, not only because so many people are deficient in it, but also due to the vast number of functions it performs in the body!

To name just a few, magnesium supports calcium in maintaining strong bones, contributes to normal muscle function, helps reduce fatigue, and even influences psychological functions. Because of these latter two points, magnesium is great for mental energy, concentration, and reducing mental fatigue—things that can often be hindered during a strict diet! Time for some extra magnesium, then!

And we haven’t even mentioned that magnesium helps maintain a normal water and electrolyte balance. This can not only help prevent water retention under the skin, but also reduce muscle cramps!

Finally, magnesium contributes to normal protein synthesis. After all, what’s the point of eating all those proteins if your body can’t process them properly? Plenty of reasons to make magnesium a priority in your diet!

The Bioavailability of Magnesium

What’s also quite unique about magnesium is its bioavailability. You’ll often hear that magnesium can be found in whole grain products like oatmeal, nuts like almonds, or dark chocolate. While this is true, the bioavailability is often disappointingly low. The result? You may still end up with a deficiency!

So what are the good sources of magnesium? We should turn to foods that may contain slightly less magnesium but are absorbed much better by the body. Think of the following:

• Spinach
• Mackerel
• Potatoes
• Bananas
• Avocado

As you can see, these are products that many people don’t eat on a daily basis, which is precisely why magnesium has become such a popular supplement. However, it’s important to choose wisely, as not all types of magnesium are the same. If you're looking for high-quality magnesium tablets or pills, opt for magnesium citrate, chloride, lactate, or aspartate. Think you might be deficient in magnesium? Check out our other blog: Signs that You Have a Magnesium Deficiency.

The Role of Omega 3 in Bodybuilding

Omega-3 is the type of fatty acid that has shown the world that not all fats are bad. It’s now well established that Omega-3 contributes to heart function, brain health, and maintaining healthy blood levels. It’s a nutrient that is still being heavily researched, with new benefits continuing to emerge. It’s no wonder that Omega-3 is being added to more and more food products.

Should You Be Eating More Fatty Fish?

For bodybuilders, the importance of fatty fish should not be underestimated, as Omega-3 provides some of the most significant benefits to the body, calorie for calorie. However, we understand that eating fatty fish every day might not be enjoyable for everyone, nor easy on your wallet. Not a fan of fatty fish? Or simply don’t have the budget to buy it regularly? A high-quality Omega-3 supplement is the solution. It supplies your body with top-quality fatty acids without the fishy aftertaste!

Zinc Contributes to a Healthy Hormonal Balance

Zinc is a mineral that shares many similar functions with calcium and magnesium. However, there’s one crucial area where zinc plays a role, while the others do not: hormone regulation. And when it comes to bodybuilding, maintaining a good hormonal balance is absolutely essential.

Zinc helps maintain a normal hormonal balance. More specifically, zinc contributes to the maintenance of normal testosterone levels in the body. Anyone who’s into strength training knows all too well that testosterone plays a significant role in muscle mass. It goes without saying that every man should ensure they have enough natural testosterone to make optimal progress.

Is Zinc Important for Bodybuilders?

Will zinc turn you into the next Mr. Olympia? Definitely not. But it will help create the perfect hormonal environment for you to stay healthy and maximise your training and nutrition efforts! This was also observed in a study where men who supplemented with zinc tablets saw improvements in their hormone levels. So, for anyone serious about bodybuilding and health, zinc is an important mineral.

Bodybuilders need extra zinc because of its role in muscle protein synthesis. Zinc has a significant impact on muscle growth and recovery after a tough workout. Additionally, zinc helps protect the muscle mass you’ve already built (source).

To ensure you’re getting enough zinc, it’s important to consume plenty of red meat. Small amounts of zinc are also found in dairy products and shellfish. As you can see, getting enough zinc through food alone can get expensive, and it’s not an ideal option for everyone. The number of strength athletes who follow a fully plant-based diet is growing, making zinc in capsule form a great alternative. If you’re looking for a supplement that also includes magnesium, ZMA with added Vitamin B6 could be the perfect option for you. Prefer a pure zinc supplement without extras? Our Zinc tablets are an excellent and affordable choice!

Calcium for Healthy Bones and Joints

Have you ever wondered how you’re going to bench press heavy weights if you’re constantly dealing with wrist, elbow, or shoulder joint pain? Exactly, without a solid foundation, you’ll never manage to build significant muscle mass and push heavy weights. The skeleton is often compared to a coat hanger: the bigger and stronger the hanger (skeleton), the more clothes (muscle mass) you can hang on it!

This is exactly where calcium plays an important role. Calcium is essential for maintaining proper calcium levels in the body and is vital for bone formation and maintaining strong bones. While calcium’s effect on bone health is what it’s most known for, there’s even more to it!

Calcium also contributes to the normal functioning of the nervous system, plays a role in maintaining strong muscles, and supports energy metabolism. All of these are crucial for any bodybuilder aiming for a lean and muscular physique.

Getting Enough Calcium Without Dairy?

If you’re unable or unwilling to consume dairy, don’t worry—there’s an easy solution: Calcium in capsule form! This is an affordable way to meet your calcium needs. Plus, it’s often combined with magnesium for even more benefits.

The Balance Between Bodybuilding and Health

In this XXL Nutrition blog, we’ve highlighted the most important nutrients for overall health and bodybuilding. However, this doesn’t mean the rest aren’t important. In fact, everything needs to be balanced to get the most out of your body. This means you should also make sure to get all the other vitamins and minerals in the right amounts, even those we haven’t discussed today.

Not in the mood to figure out exactly how much of each vitamin and mineral you need? Multivit is specially designed for athletes and covers your essential needs. For women, we’ve developed the Women’s Multivit, tailored to meet the specific needs of women. Bodybuilding and health go hand in hand and can enhance each other, provided you carefully consider the healthy foods you consume. Health means much more than just feeling good and living longer—it can play a significant role in your success or failure in the gym.