Most bodybuilders often don’t consider the elements in their diet that don’t give them any calories. It is a big mistake because this diet contains a lot of useful components that are not only helpful in providing energy, backing the muscle tissue and extending the muscle growth. But these nutrients that are also called micronutrients are much more crucial for bodybuilders than the calorie producing nutrients because of their other physiological functions.
In order to find out the importance of a dietary mineral for bodybuilders you should look through the sport’s nutrition research that can give the answers to the following questions.
 1. Does the mineral influence on the muscle action, the synthesis of protein or the integrity of the muscle cells? 2. Does the workout require the nutrients intake? 3. Do athletes take the suboptimal amount of the mineral? 4. Does dietary supplementation with the mineral meliorate your performance and muscle growth?
So let’s review the minerals which are helpful in increasing strength and muscle growth. They are listed in the reversed order.
10. Potassium
Potassium is a very important electrolyte. It is located in the cells of your muscles. It works with the sodium in order to regulate the water levels of your body. Potassium transports the electrical potentials through nerve and the muscle cells. It is necessary for the muscle contraction. It is necessary for creating the glycogen stores that provide high intensity muscular energy. In case of a poor potassium / sodium balance can unsuitable fluid levels, dehydration, muscle cramps and weakness can occur. It is not a big problem for ordinary people to include potassium in their diet. But bodybuilders should know its functions and the foods which contains potassium.
9. Copper
Copper is a trace mineral which is now proved more crucial for bodybuilders than it was thought before. It is important not only for its assistance in the transport and utilization of oxygen (as well as many enzymatic reactions, not the least of which is necessary for the production of noradrenaline). The main advantage of Copper is that it has the ability to increase in the bloodstream during intense training. So it means that copper plays a great role in the high intensity muscular work such as bodybuilding and in some conditions the bodybuilders should take suboptimal amount of this mineral.
8. Vanadium
Vanadium is a nonelectrolyte mineral that was recently noticed in the bodybuilding community due to the persieved results of one of its salt forms called vanadyl sulfate. Although the most studies on Vanadium supplementation were held on the diabetic rats the published results state a useful glycogen storing effect on the muscle tissue. It explains the analysis of some bodybuilders that have noticed that they feel worse after the vanadyl sulfate’s intake.
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