Importance of Micronutrients for Bodybuilders: Water, Vitamins & Minerals

A common mistake in bodybuilders’ nutrition is neglecting those elements that do not provide calories. However, these elements, known as micronutrients, are indispensable for many physiological functions. This post reviews the importance of basic micronutrients (water, vitamins, and minerals) for achieving success in bodybuilding.

Water is one of the most important nutrients, as it has many health and performance benefits. It keeps your organs functioning properly, clears toxins from the body and regulates the body cooling system. In addition, it is essential for proper digestion, nutrient absorption and chemical reactions, and it contributes to muscle growth by favoring the transport of nutrients to the cells. It even increases the body's ability to metabolize stored fat. On the other side, water is also very important for the athletic performance, since improper hydration can result in muscle cramping, decreased strength and reduced endurance.

In general, people wait to be thirsty in order to drink. This is not a good idea, because when you are thirsty, your body is already dehydrated. You should drink on average 3 or 4 liters of water per day, distributed at regular intervals regardless if you are thirsty or not. Use water itself as you main water source. Soft drinks, alcohol or coffee should be better avoided as a water source because they are diuretic (they take away more water than they provide to the body). In addition, soft drinks and alcohol supply a great number of calories which can turn into body fat.

Vitamins are organic substances essential to the normal functioning of the body, as they help to catalyze biochemical reactions controlling metabolism, growth and maintenance. A deficiency in a single vitamin can have great effects in the athletic performance and even in the health. Vitamins must be obtained from food (fish, fruit and veggies are great vitamin sources) since, with few exceptions, the body cannot synthesize them. Vitamins can be divided into two categories: fat-soluble and water-soluble. Fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, and K) are stored in the body fatty tissue and for this reason they do not have to be replenished daily. Don’t overdose since this can lead to toxicity. The water-soluble vitamins (vitamin C and all the B complex vitamins, namely B1 (thiamine), B2 (riboflavin), B3 (niacin), B5 (pantothenic acid), B6 (pyridoxine), B12 (cobalamin), folic acid, and biotin (a.k.a. vitamin H)) are not stored in the body and excessive amounts are excreted in the urine. This means that toxicity is generally not a problem, but these vitamins must be continually replenished through the diet.

Minerals have also a great importance. They act as catalysts for many biological reactions within the body, including muscle response, the transmission of messages through the nervous system, the production of hormones, and the assimilation of nutrients in foods. In addition, all tissues and internal fluids of our body (e.g. bones, teeth, muscle, blood, and nerve cells) contain varying quantities of minerals. Since the body cannot manufacture any single mineral, your entire mineral intake must provide from food. The most important minerals for a bodybuilder include magnesium, calcium, zinc, chromium, sodium, phosphorous, iron, selenium, cooper, and potassium. Be aware of overdosing on any mineral, since this can cause a functional imbalance of another mineral or even toxicity.

I’ll provide a detailed description for each vitamin and mineral (importance, deficiency symptoms and food sources) in a later post, but in the meanwhile, you can find more information about the importance of micronutrients in the article “Understanding The Importance Of Proper Hydration For Maximum Gains In And Out Of The Gym!” by Jeff Behar or the article “Anabolic Nutrition!” included in the I.C.E. Training Program developed by Big Cat.

Proper Training for the Abdominals

This post concludes (at last!) the series describing how to design adequate routines for training the different body-parts. This chapter provides you with the general guidelines for proper abdominal training.

Classical aim of bodybuilders has been achieving six-pack shaped abdominals. However, only training is unproductive to achieve this. Surely, you will not see your abdominals unless you eliminate the layer of fat covering them. Effective fat loss can only be accomplished with a proper clean diet in conjunction with cardiovascular exercise (I’ll go deeper on this in a future post). In spite of this, you must not neglect the abdominal work, because it can contribute to the whole picture providing muscle definition and thickening. And more importantly, abdominal work contributes also to prevent injury, since the abdominal muscles are heavily involved in maintaining the posture (along with the lower back), and they act as a stabilizer in almost every exercise.

What is commonly referred as the abdominal body-part is comprised of several muscles, namely the rectus abdominis, the obliques and the transversus abdominis. The rectus abdominis runs down the front of your stomach and its primary function is to flex the trunk. It is a single muscle and, as such, the whole muscle contracts when exercised. Because of this, we cannot really differentiate lower from upper abdominals, though some exercises can put slightly more emphasis in one area than in the other. The obliques, which run down the side of your stomach, have two heads, namely the external oblique and the internal oblique, and though these muscles contribute to abdominal flexion, they are mainly activated through rotation and lateral flexion (e.g. bending from side to side). The transversus abdominis lies underneath the rectus abdominis, and it is responsible for stabilizing the trunk during lifting movements and pulling your stomach flat. Finally, although they are not part of the abdominal core, the serratus anterior and the intercostals muscles, which lie just above the rib cage, contribute also to your abdominal look.

In the past, abdominal training relied on exercises such as sit-ups or straight-leg raises. However, these exercises are based on flexing the hip joint instead of flexing the trunk. For this reason, they primarily involve the iliopsoas muscle, contributing to increase your waist size, while the abdominals are not trained in a productive way, because they are merely exhausted in prolonged static work for preventing your spine from breaking off.

Proper way of training the rectus abdominis must involve decreasing the distance between the ribcage and the pelvis, for example, bringing the chest toward the hips, as occurs in crunches, or bringing the hips toward the chest, as occurs in reverse crunches and hip raises. Obliques training must be approached with caution, because too much oblique development will make you appear blocky, ruining your X-frame. Just in case you need some oblique definition, use exercises with a twisting motion, but with none or very little resistance, and aiming for a good stretch. Side bends can be another option, but also with extremely light weights. Training the transversus abdominis is important for avoiding that your abdominals begin to protrude and for improving your abdominal control. This muscle is engaged using bridges and vacuums. The serratus anterior and the intercostals work synergistically and are best trained using straight-arm pushdowns and pullovers.

Train your abdominals once, or at most twice a week, preferably after the other muscles. Use at least 2 or 3 exercises. People generally use none or low resistance, but you can occasionally experiment with more resistance for giving some relief to your abs (not with obliques!). Finally, perform all the exercises in controlled motion and hold the contractions for a count.

If you need more information for designing your abdominal workout, you can read the article “Atrocious Abs: A Guide to a Rock-Hard Midsection” by Matt Danielsson or the article “Intelligent Abdominal Training for Athletes and Bodybuilders!” by Ben Black.

Proper Training for the Calves

This post follows the series describing how to design adequate routines for training the different body-parts. This chapter provides you with the general guidelines for proper calves training.

Calf muscles have been traditionally neglected arguing that they are very difficult to develop because progress in these muscles is heavily determined by genetics. Although is true that some people are genetically gifted with great calves, the rest of us can achieve good improvements in calves with adequate and intense training.

The calves body-part comprises mainly two muscles, namely the gastrocnemius, which is located at the top rear end of the lower leg, and the soleus, which lies underneath the gastrocnemius. The gastrocnemius is made up of two heads, the medial head (a.k.a. inner head) and the lateral head (a.k.a. outer head), and provides the major part of the mass of the lower leg. Usually, another muscle called tibialis anterior, which runs up the front of the lower leg, is considered within this body-part, since it has related functionality. In fact, all these muscles are the responsible of foot movement (flexion, extension and rotation).

Unlike is commonly believed, calves must be trained in the same way you train the other body-parts. Training them intensely does not mean to train them everyday. Train calves once a week, hitting them hard and then let them rest. Use at least 2 to 3 exercises for stimulating the different muscles that comprise this body-part. The gastrocnemius is worked with all standing calf raises versions (with a barbell, one leg version with a dumbbell in one hand, in a leg press machine or in a specialized machine) and with donkey calf raises, while the soleus is trained using seated calf raises. All these exercises are based on the same motion, that is pushing the body up on the toes and return to the original position, letting the heels drop down for having a deeper stretch. On the other side, the tibialis anterior is stimulated with the reverse version of all calf raises exercises.

Due to its fibers composition, optimal calf development occurs as a response to the combination of two training styles, namely heavy weight and low reps, and lighter weight for higher reps. Form is fundamental in calf training. The proper way is to perform the exercises slow and strict, using full range of motion, emphasizing the contraction in the top of the movement, and giving the muscle a deep stretch in the bottom. Some people claim that pointing the toes in different directions stimulates different areas of the calves. There are different opinions with respect to this issue. Try it, and check what works better for you. Finally, don't forget to fully stretch the calves at the end of your workout.

If you need more information for designing your calves workout, you can read the article “Killer Calf Training!” by Jim Brewster or the article “Training the Hamstrings and Calves!” included in the I.C.E. Training Program developed by Big Cat.