Athletes, whether younger or older, need magnesium to help form energy in the cells known as ATP (adenosine triphosphate). The primary benefit of magnesium is muscle relaxation. It reduces lactic acid, which causes post-exercise pain, and eliminates muscle spasms but it also acts to increase energy. Sounds contradictory, doesn’t it? Well, if you are magnesium-deficient, your energy level will be low because you aren’t producing the energy to run your body. Increase your magnesium and your energy level goes up because it interacts with calcium and keeps the calcium from causing excessive muscle contractions. Too much calcium in the body causes tension and tightness in the muscles. Taking magnesium balances it out and within hours, days, weeks relieves the tension.
Athletes don’t have to be told by doctors to exercise. Proper amounts of magnesium help the body burn fuel and create energy in an efficient cycle during exercise that doesn’t lead to lactic acid buildup. Heavy exercisers, especially long distance runners, cross-country skiers, cyclists and swimmers, sometimes have lactic acid buildup and suffer shin splints or painful muscles but they push themselves to the limit. They can be addicted to the adrenaline rush of reaching and pushing through that “wall”. That “wall” is brought on by the adrenal glands and can be followed by a crash. Athletes need to repair that damage to their adrenal glands with good nutrition and restoring the magnesium that was lost during exercise.
Studies have shown that magnesium supplementation enhances the performance and endurance of athletes who participate in long distance sports. Magnesium is lost through the sweating process. The more one sweats, the more magnesium is lost. Thereby, the athlete becomes more magnesium deficient. (see: Dr. Carolyn Dean’s book – “The Magnesium Miracle”)
Transdermal magnesium chloride therapy enhances recovery from athletic activity or injuries quickly. Magnesium in pill form has to first filter thru the gut before it gets absorbed. Transdermal magnesium can be applied to the skin directly on the body part that is injured. Injury is an inevitable part of an athlete’s life. It’s part of the challenge of being an athlete – it’s a challenge to their spirits to remain positive while going through rehabilitation.
As with any remedy to a problem, once athletes, coaches, and trainers find out that magnesium chloride from natural sources is available for topical use – the transdermal magnesium application will take off!
