Sport Nutrition: Natural Remedies for Performance - Ted's Q&A

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Magnet Therapy Options?

Posted by Mitch (Durango Colorado) on 05/31/2006

Hello, You have a great website -- it's very helpful. I am a pro cyclist and was reading your sports nutrition section by Ted of Bangkok. He mentioned using magnets for athletes to help for recovery. I was wondering what kind would be the best, and if magnetic sleeping pads would be good and what kind to use. And would they be good for traveling and competing in a multi stage race?

Replied by Ted
Bangkok, Thailand
391 posts

Magnets help in racing by increasing oxygen, speeds up recovery and reduce inflammation. Magnet sleeping pads would be helpful, but North Magnets only. Make sure that the North Side of the Magnets is pointed towards your body. You can tell this by getting a compass.

If the compass points north toward the sleeping magnets, then you got the polarities correct. Most commercial sleeping magnets are oblivious of this fact, and if you can't find one you have to make your own. A preferred magnets would be the neodymium magnets. My papaya plant grew twice larger than an ordinary papaya plant by just applying North magnetic poles. And as the bean sprouts testing have proved many times the best polarity is north only, second best is S only, the third best is N and S. This is why bedspring matress are unhealthy sometimes. The reason is that they have no magnet polarity and they tend to suck the energy toward something else that had magnetic polarities. If you are as unlucky as I am sleeping in bed with bedspring mattress, use a S magnetic pole to be rubbed on the spring mattress to create a weak N magnetic poles on the bed so that it will help with your health too. Yes metal bedspring mattress can be magnetized this way, too.

Magnets help you recover faster, and reduce pain quite but you still need to reduce the lactic acid buildup with a more advanced form of soda loading such as the use of citric acid + baking soda, mixed with water. For atheletes may need a larger dose such as 1/2 teaspoon of citric acid plus 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda. Certain amino acids as you know also reduce the lactic acid buildup, in particular, is the L-carnosine, which helps healing and pH buffering preventing pain from lactic acid buildup especially continuous physical exertion. Of course, L-Glutamine is somewhat helpful here too. High energy output may need from time to time and taking creatine monohydrate supplements may help.

There is some misinformation of lactic acid that I have to clear you here, some say is good because it goes to the liver, create glycogen, to create energy, etc., etc. However, in the field of biochemistry, a cell would die in presence of lactate or lactic acid in a cellular culture given a well balanced "Ringer's solution". So lactic acid or lactate (neutralized) kills cells, which not amazingly is one reason why athletes die young. I guess they didn't take seriously about this lactic acid. By minimizing this, it will help in multi races since there are several competition which can really accumulate lactic acid over the course of the race! So just stay away from yogurt, milk that can cause excess lactic acid. It not only hurts the muscle, but it can kill your heart. Remember your heart can't feel the pain, it just stops beating if there is enough lactic acid. So consider soda loading and amino acids that protects soda loading. Magnets helps too in reducing inflammation and recovery.


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