Most bodybuilders get enough protein in their diet. We might have to jump from a moving train, parachute from a climbing plane, or eat it from the whey container plain, but we’re getting our required daily grams of protein. We find a way.

Once the protein is down the hatch, many bodybuilders tend to become far less concerned with ensuring they eat the correct macro- and micronutrients each day. If protein is the first-tier goal, it’s likely that items such as water, carbohydrates and fats, a multi-vitamin, and whatever supplement we’re experimenting with that week, falls under the auspices of the second-tier list. With each meal, we get our protein religiously, and then we fumble through the second-tier objectives, hoping to cover most of those bases.

But what about the third-tier nutrients? After covering water, all three macronutrients, and vitamins, what remains? The answer, of course, is minerals, the twenty-two inorganic compounds that comprise about 4% of our total body weight. Included in the list of minerals are iron, potassium, sodium, zinc, fluoride, cobalt, chromium, manganese, iodine, and copper.

You might consume adequate amounts of some of these on a daily basis. If you have a banana, you have your potassium bases covered. However, attempting to find all of your required minerals in a daily diet would be impossible, and unsafe, as many of them are required in only trace levels, which would be unsafe for consumption by humans at higher levels.

If you’re taking a multi-vitamin, read the contents of the package. Many of them include essential minerals. Likewise, very often the vitamin multi-packs will cover the minerals as well. However, if you are consuming inexpensive, small, or poor quality vitamins, they may not contain minerals. In this case, you should upgrade to a better vitamin/mineral pack, or take minerals separately. Minerals are required materials for building muscle and good health.

Planning your daily diet helps alleviate some of the stress that comes from trying to cover all first-, second-, and third-tier diet requirements. If you awake each morning and know what 3-4 of your daily meals will be, you’ll miss a lot less of your nutritional requirements and you’ll have much more fun eating without performing calculations before each meal. As a bodybuilder, protein is the king of all nutritional requirements. However, if you neglect the second- and third-tier elements of the diet, including minerals, you’re putting your muscle-gaining efforts at risk.

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