Magnesium for Muscles: The Mineral that Powers Reps, Relaxation, and Recovery

by Glenn Holmes, @GlennHolmesLA

When it comes to supplements that support your strength and training efforts, we immediately think protein, creatine, and caffeine. There’s one mineral that quietly packs a powerful punch: Magnesium, an essential nutrient and a game-changer for anyone who wants to optimize muscle function.

Quick Stat: Up to 50–75% of active adults don’t get enough magnesium. This deficiency can hinder performance, recovery, and muscle building goals. 

Magnesium is far more than a “supporting” mineral. It plays a critical role in energy production, muscle contraction, recovery, and overall strength gains.

In this article, I’ll explain why optimizing magnesium intake could be key to unlocking full athletic potential and a successful strength training journey. You’ll learn all about what magnesium does for muscles, why athletes tend to run low on this critical mineral, and how to best consume it via food and supplements. 

What Is Magnesium and Why Does it Matter for Muscle?

Magnesium is involved in more than 300 enzymatic reactions, influencing everything from energy production to protein synthesis, nerve signaling, and muscle function. It’s a cornerstone of athletic performance and muscle health and, without it, we are not operating at full capacity. 

Magnesium supports muscle function and strength training in three major ways: 

• Muscle contraction and relaxation
• Energy production
• Recovery and repair
  
  

Magnesium & Energy Production 

Let’s get technical for a second… 

ATP (adenosine triphosphate), is your body’s primary energy currency, powering every muscle contraction and cellular process. 

Magnesium plays a critical role in the production of ATP by stabilizing your ATP molecules and acting as a cofactor in the enzymatic reactions that convert food into usable energy. 

Why Efficient Energy Production Matters

Without enough magnesium, your muscles can’t generate the energy required for high-intensity workouts, sustained endurance training, or heavier strength training sessions.

• Strength Training: During resistance exercises (strength training) your muscles rely on rapid ATP turnover for those repeated contractions (reps). Low magnesium can lead to early fatigue, limiting your reps and sets as well as obviously slowing your progress and reducing the amount of quality work you’re able to put in in the gym. 
• Endurance: Endurance athletes depend on steady energy output over longer periods. Magnesium deficiency can reduce stamina levels, making it harder to maintain pace or complete longer sessions. Pre- and intra-workout electrolytes, including magnesium, can help the body replenish as you sweat these nutrients out. 
• Recovery: Efficient ATP production isn’t just important during exercise — it’s vital afterwards, too. Energy is needed for muscle repair, protein synthesis, and recovery — all of which are enhanced by optimal magnesium levels.

Think of magnesium as the spark plug for your body’s energy engine.

Adequate magnesium ensures your muscles have the energy they need to perform, endure, and recover to give you a clear performance edge.

Magnesium for Muscle Function

Magnesium acts as a natural counterbalance to calcium, which ensures muscles contract and relax efficiently. Calcium tells your muscles to contract and magnesium tells them to relax. This relationship is key to muscle building. 

When magnesium is low, the muscle brake fails, and what do you get? Cramped, tight, stubborn muscles that won’t play ball in the gym, on the field, or in the ring.

 Keeping your magnesium levels up will help:

• Relax your muscles that may want to sometimes lock up otherwise
• Allows your muscles to recover between reps and sets so you can keep pushing
• Keep your movements smooth and controlled

Sometimes when I’m coaching clients I will see a dip in form early in a session, or some struggle in a movement or rep, punch, etc. I’ll often ask: Have you been taking your magnesium? 

Magnesium for Muscle Recovery & Protein Synthesis

Magnesium is critical for protein synthesis. Yes, protein is essential for muscle building, but magnesium is the transporter/delivery system to help your muscles recover and repair, especially after intense or heavy workouts. 

Protein Metabolism Repairs Muscles

Protein is the building block, but magnesium is the vessel that turns it into muscle. 

It helps your body efficiently process amino acids and fuel protein synthesis, so those micro-tears from lifting or running are repaired correctly and re-built stronger than before.

Sleep Powers Gains

Here’s a bonus: Magnesium supports quality sleep, which is when most recovery and growth happens. 

Deep, restorative sleep leads to hormone balance, muscle repair, and energy for your next session to meet your muscle- and strength-building goals. 

Magnesium and Hormone Balance

There’s been a lot of discussion lately in wellness correlating low mood and low magnesium levels, and for good reason. Magnesium doesn’t just power muscles; it helps regulate hormones, including potentially the most important for muscle health in men and women, testosterone.

Magnesium binds to sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG), reducing its activity and increasing the amount of free, active testosterone available in the body. 

Additionally, magnesium supports enzymes involved in testosterone production.

Magnesium Supports Hormone Balance Matters for Strength Gains

A healthy testosterone level is the fuel behind muscle protein synthesis, energy, fat metabolism, and overall performance. When hormones are out of whack, even perfect training and nutrition can’t compensate.

If testosterone is low and magnesium is low, athletes will often notice:

• Slow strength gains and stalled progress
• Difficulty building lean muscle
• Fatigue during training sessions
• Impaired recovery

Think of magnesium as a hormone ally. 

Keep it topped up, and your body can build muscle, recover efficiently, and stay in peak performance mode. Skip it, and your gains may plateau no matter how hard you train.

Magnesium Deficiency in Athletes

Sluggish performance is a key indicator of low magnesium and the cyclical effects of poor recovery. High-performance athletes and anyone training hard on the regular are at high risk for magnesium deficiency. 

Here are a couple of ways magnesium can be low in athletes and how to avoid it getting there.

Sweat depletes magnesium

Magnesium is lost through sweat during intense training or long endurance sessions. The harder you push, the more you lose. Pre-workout fueling and post-workout magnesium replenishing are essential.

Stress steals magnesium

Both physical and mental stress increase magnesium excretion in urine. High-stress periods or heavy training cycles can deplete stores quickly. Post-workout magnesium supplements can help return the stress response to baseline quickly. 

Active individuals are burning through magnesium faster than most people realize, making deficiency surprisingly common. Keeping your magnesium levels topped up is crucial not only for performance, but overall health. 

Risks of Ignoring Magnesium Deficiency in Muscle Health

Without sufficient magnesium, your gains will slip. Here’s what can happen over time:

• Plateaued Strength and Muscle Growth: Without enough magnesium, your muscles don’t recover or contract efficiently, slowing progress. Your workouts become tougher and your ability to increase reps, weight, and sets plummets. 
• Fatigue: Low magnesium makes energy production less efficient, leaving you drained even after rest. A tired body misses a lot more gym sessions and motivation wanes.
• Increased Injury Risk: Tight, cramp-prone muscles and slower recovery can lead to strains, sprains, and overuse injuries.
• Hormone Imbalance: Testosterone and other key hormones can drop, further stalling growth and endurance.
  
  

Best Sources of Magnesium for Muscle Building

Where you get your magnesium makes a difference. Food is optimal, but depleted levels in plants make supplements a popular option. However, absorption in the cells (where you need magnesium for muscles) can vary wildly by the type and form of the supplement.

Dietary Sources: Leafy greens, nuts, seeds, whole grains, legumes.

Magnesium Supplements

• Magnesium Glycinate: Gentle on the stomach, supports muscle relaxation and sleep (key for recovery).
• Magnesium Citrate: Highly absorbable, supports digestion and hydration balance.
• Magnesium Malate: Aids energy production, supports muscle recovery.
• Magnesium L-Threonate: 
  • The only compound shown to raise magnesium levels in the brain. 
  • Supports focus, learning, and memory for the mind-muscle connection during training.
  • Supports nervous system recovery and stress resilience, reducing the impact of mental fatigue on workouts.
  • Promotes a relaxed mood conducive to deep, restorative sleep for muscle repair and growth.
  • Takeaway: While not directly linked to energy or muscle contraction, magnesium l-threonate supports the mental and recovery aspects of training, giving athletes an edge in performance and consistency.

Based on your muscle building goals, here’s how to choose the right magnesium for you: 

• Glycinate for recovery
• Malate for energy
• L-threonate for focus, stress resilience, and sleep
  
  

The Advantage of Lypo-Spheric® Magnesium for Muscle Building

The source and type of supplement you choose for magnesium is paramount.

Here’s one thing you don’t hear often, but makes the biggest impact when supplementing magnesium for muscle: If the magnesium isn’t making it to the cells, it isn’t working. Remember how we discussed magnesium supporting ATP production? Well, that happens in the cells. 

When you take a magnesium pill, all you can do is hope the mineral makes it through the digestive system then the bloodstream, and finally into the cells where it can support all your muscle building goals. 

I encourage everyone I work with to use Lypo-Spheric® Magnesium, since the magnesium l-threonate is “wrapped” in a protective choline-rich liposomes to survive the digestive tract and deliver the key nutrients into your cells, exactly where your muscles and nervous system need them.

Choline: The Brain & Muscle Supporter

Choline supports brain health and nerve-to-muscle communication, helping your body fire efficiently during every lift, sprint, or set. Outside of eggs, it’s not prevalent in that many foods, so the fact that it is in Lypo-Spheric® Magnesium is a huge bonus for muscle building. 

Synergy for Athletes

When you combine elite absorption with brain-muscle communication, Lypo-Spheric® Magnesium becomes a performance and recovery powerhouse. With its cell-level delivery, athletes gain support for a focused, worthwhile training session and relaxation afterwards — and none of the common digestive side effects from magnesium pills and powders. 

How to take Magnesium for Muscles

The timing, dosage, and form of magnesium matter, so strategically taking magnesium in the morning, around your workouts, and at night ensures your brain and muscles get the fuel, recovery, and relaxation they need. 

Optimal Timing

• Morning: Taking magnesium in the morning can help kickstart energy production for the day, supporting overall alertness and performance in both training and daily activity. I take magnesium l-threonate (Lypo-Spheric® Magnesium) every morning to kick things into gear. 
• Pre-Workout: Magnesium before training can help with muscle contractions and energy production for sharp performance in the gym. 
• Post-Workout: Post-training magnesium supports recovery and protein synthesis, so your muscles are ready for the next session. 
• Bedtime: Magnesium glycinate, l-threonate, or a blend at night helps me relax before bed so I can get that deep sleep in which recovery, fat burning, and muscle growth happen. 

Many athletes may split their dose between post-workout and bedtime for maximum benefit.

Recommended Magnesium Dosages

Active adults generally need 350–500 mg of elemental magnesium per day, though individual needs can vary depending on training intensity, sweat loss, diet, and lifestyle factors that may deplete magnesium. 

If you are using a liposomal form of magnesium, smaller doses may be effective due to substantial absorption and efficacy. 

Safety and Avoiding Over-Supplementation

Magnesium is safe for most people, but taking too much at once (especially with laxative forms like magnesium citrate or oxide) can cause diarrhea or digestive issues. 

I recommended keeping close to recommended dosages and if needed, split into multiple smaller doses to improve your absorption and tolerance if magnesium supplements are new to you. 

Stacking Magnesium with Other Nutrients for Muscle Growth

Magnesium + Vitamin D and Calcium

You might see this common blend in nutrition stores. These three work together as a muscle performance team. As I mentioned earlier, calcium triggers muscle contraction, magnesium helps muscles relax, and vitamin D acts as a vessel for both to ensure both minerals are absorbed efficiently.  

Magnesium + B Complex for Cellular Energy

B vitamins are critical for converting food into energy for your muscles to burn during training. 

Magnesium acts as a cofactor in these enzymatic reactions, so pairing it with a B complex (a supplement of all B Vitamins combined, like Lypo-Spheric® B Complex Plus) can help support energy production and endurance in training. 

Magnesium + Protein and Amino Acids for Recovery

Magnesium helps your body turn protein and amino acids into muscle tissue. Stacking magnesium with protein or branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) is a great option to accelerate recovery and muscle growth.

Magnesium + Choline for Physical and Mental Edge

This combination gives athletes the cognitive support that translates to performance benefits, from fast lifts to sharp decision-making in high-intensity sports like boxing. 

Why Magnesium Matters for Muscle Building

From energy production to muscle contraction, hormone balance, and recovery, magnesium is at the heart of every rep, set, and workout. It’s also essential for the mental state to get so many of us into the gym in the first place! 

If you are training hard, training regularly, sweating, and using your brain heavily on a daily basis, the chances are you may not be getting enough magnesium. 

Consider Lypo-Spheric® Magnesium for elite absorption, efficacy, recovery, and performance — both physical and mental. 

Training hard is good, but training smart will give your muscles the support they actually need to get you the results you want.