Originally Posted by Ike
Is there anything “wrong” with taking the individual ingredients of ZMA? I have magnesium, zinc and B6 already. One problem might be getting a small enough dose of B6. The tablets I have are 50 mg. ZMA has the amount of B6 down at 10.5 mg.
Nothing wrong at all, and it’s cheaper. Victor Conte pushed his allegedly super-mucho-better “ZMA.” Do a search on misc.fitness.weights (if you can tolerate the newer, pathetic Google interface to the Usenet archive). He was full of it.
Adequate zinc is necessary for testosterone production. That doesn’t mean extra zinc beyond what is needed increases testosterone above normal, though the marketers would like you to think so.
If you’re taking a multivitamin check how much zinc it contains. Chances are your diet, if it is decent, and the multi provide plenty of zinc. Some extra magnesium is probably a good idea. A common recommendation is to supplement calcium and magnesium at a 2:1 ratio. Note that often the Ca/Mg supplements also contain some zinc.
Don’t waste your money on ZMA.