The Natural Edge

At the highest levels of sport, the difference between winning and losing can be a fraction of a second. Athletes spend years refining their technique and training. Yet the hidden foundations of performance, how well they eat, recover and sleep, are often where the greatest gains are waiting. Training breaks the body down; it is during recovery that it builds back stronger. The natural edge lies in getting both right.

Enough fuel: the hidden risk of under-eating

One of the most common problems in sport isn't eating the wrong foods. It's not eating enough. When an athlete trains hard without taking in enough energy, the body begins to save fuel by turning down "non-essential" systems, including hormones, bone building, immunity and digestion.

The International Olympic Committee calls this Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport, or RED-S.¹ It can affect men and women in any sport, but it's especially common in sports that value lightness or leanness, such as running, cycling, gymnastics, dance and climbing. It isn't always deliberate: busy athletes simply may not realise how much they need.

Whole-food fuel

• Carbohydrates to match the work. Carbohydrates are the main fuel for high-intensity exercise. Many athletes now match their intake to their training: more on heavy days, less on rest days. Choose whole sources, such as oats, potatoes, sweet potatoes, rice, root vegetables, fruit and legumes. (See Born to Move.)
• Protein, spread through the day. Athletes generally need between 1.2 and 2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight each day, spread across meals and snacks, including after training.² That's around 20 to 40 grams per meal for most people, from eggs, fish, meat, dairy, tofu, tempeh, beans and lentils.
• Healthy fats. Omega-3 fats from oily fish, walnuts and flaxseed help to manage inflammation and support the heart and brain. (See The Quiet Fire.)
• Eat the rainbow. Brightly coloured fruit and vegetables provide polyphenols and antioxidants that support recovery.
• Real food on the go. Sports gels and bars are convenient, but real food can work just as well. In one study, cyclists performed just as well when fuelled with potato purée as with a commercial carbohydrate gel.³ Bananas, dates, rice cakes and boiled potatoes with salt are all time-tested options.

Hydration and electrolytes

Losing as little as 2% of your body weight in sweat can impair endurance performance and concentration, especially in the heat.⁴ But over-drinking can be dangerous too: drinking large amounts of plain water during long events can dilute the salt in the blood, a condition called hyponatraemia.

• Drink to thirst during most training, and plan ahead for long or hot sessions.
• Weigh yourself before and after a session: each kilogram lost is roughly a litre of fluid to replace.
• Replace salt as well as water after heavy sweating. Salty foods, a pinch of sea salt in water, or coconut water can help.

Training breaks the body down. Recovery builds it back stronger.

Recovery: where strength is built

Sleep, the ultimate performance enhancer

No supplement can match sleep. In a study at Stanford University, college basketball players who extended their sleep to around 10 hours a night for several weeks ran faster sprints and improved their shooting accuracy by about 9%.⁵ In young athletes, those who slept less than 8 hours a night were 1.7 times more likely to be injured.⁶ (See The Art of Sleep.)

Foods and herbs for recovery

• Tart cherries. Marathon runners who drank tart cherry juice for several days before and after their race recovered their strength more quickly and showed less inflammation.⁷
• Ginger. Eating ginger every day for 11 days reduced muscle pain after hard exercise by about a quarter.⁸
• Turmeric. Curcumin, from turmeric, has been shown in a number of trials to ease muscle soreness after exercise.⁹ Take it with black pepper and a little fat to help absorption.
• Magnesium-rich foods, such as leafy greens, pumpkin seeds and cacao, support muscle relaxation and sleep.

Some inflammation is a normal and necessary part of adaptation. The aim isn't to switch it off completely, but to help the body recover well. This is one reason very high doses of antioxidant supplements are not recommended around training: they may blunt some of the benefits.

Water, heat and breath

Some of the oldest recovery tools are also some of the simplest, and many athletes use them alongside sleep and good food:

• Cold water. A cold plunge or ice bath, typically 10 to 15 minutes at around 10 to 15°C, reduces muscle soreness and the feeling of fatigue in the days after hard exercise.¹⁰ Timing matters, though: in one trial, regular cold baths straight after strength sessions blunted the gains in muscle and strength over twelve weeks.¹¹ Cold water works best after competition, tournaments or back-to-back events, when quick recovery matters more than adaptation. Anyone with a heart condition or high blood pressure should seek advice before cold immersion.
• Heat and sauna. Warmth relaxes tight muscles and calms the nervous system. In a small trial, runners who took a 30-minute sauna after training, three times a week for three weeks, could run for about a third longer before exhaustion, possibly by increasing their blood volume.¹² Drink plenty of water and avoid a hot sauna straight after a very hard session in hot weather.
• Epsom salt baths. A warm bath with a couple of cupfuls of Epsom salts (magnesium sulphate) is a time-honoured way to ease aching muscles and unwind before sleep. How much magnesium passes through the skin is still being researched,¹³ so it's wise to cover your magnesium needs through food as well, but the warm water, rest and ritual are restorative in themselves.
• Breathing to switch off. After competing, the body can stay in "fight or flight" for hours. Slow, steady breathing, at around six breaths a minute with a longer out-breath, activates the calming parasympathetic nervous system and raises heart rate variability, a marker of recovery.¹⁴ In a Stanford study, just five minutes a day of "cyclic sighing" (a double in-breath through the nose, then a long, slow out-breath) improved mood and lowered breathing rate more than meditation.¹⁵ Breathing through the nose during easy training helps too. (See The Healing Breath and Heart-Brain Coherence.)
• Massage and gentle movement. Of all the recovery methods compared in one large analysis, massage was the most effective for reducing soreness and fatigue.¹⁶ On rest days, an easy walk, swim or cycle keeps the blood flowing without adding strain.

The athlete's gut

Between 30% and 50% of endurance athletes experience gut problems during training or competition, such as cramps, bloating, nausea and urgent trips to the loo.¹⁷ During hard exercise, blood is diverted away from the gut to the working muscles, which can leave the gut lining stressed and more permeable.

• Train your gut. Practise your race-day food and drinks in training, so your gut learns to handle them.
• Choose low-fibre foods before races if your gut is sensitive, and avoid trying anything new on competition day.
• Look after your gut bacteria with fermented foods and plenty of plant variety in your everyday diet. (See The Master Regulator.)

Staying well through heavy training

Hard training, poor sleep, travel, stress and under-eating can all make athletes more prone to colds and infections, often at the worst possible time. Steady energy intake, good sleep, plenty of fruit and vegetables, and vitamin D in the darker months (see Living by the Sun) all help keep the immune system strong.

The mind of an athlete

Elite performance happens as much in the mind as in the body. In expert marksmen, a particular brainwave pattern of deep, calm focus appears in the moments before a successful shot. (See The Sound of Stillness.) Slow breathing and heart-rate variability (HRV) training can help athletes stay calm under pressure and track how well they're recovering. (See The Healing Breath and Heart-Brain Coherence.)

Adaptogens for athletes

Adaptogenic herbs are traditionally used to help the body cope with physical and mental stress, and several have been studied in athletes. As with most herbal research, the trials are small, because there's little commercial funding for studying plants that can't be patented: (See The Inner Life of Plants.)

• Ashwagandha. In a small trial, young men who took ashwagandha alongside strength training gained more muscle strength and size, and recovered better, than those taking a placebo.¹⁸ It is warming and grounding.
• Rhodiola. Traditionally used in Siberia and Scandinavia for stamina and resilience. Some studies suggest it may reduce fatigue and improve endurance, though results are mixed.
• Cordyceps, a medicinal mushroom traditionally used for energy and breathing. (See The Hidden Kingdom.)
• Eleuthero (Siberian ginseng) was studied for decades by Soviet scientists, who gave it to athletes, factory workers and even cosmonauts to help them withstand physical strain, cold and long hours. It was one of the herbs that gave rise to the very idea of an "adaptogen".¹⁹ Athletes still use it to support endurance and recovery during heavy training. It's gentler than Korean ginseng and suits most constitutions.
• Maral root (Rhaponticum carthamoides), from the mountains of Siberia, is rich in ecdysterone, a natural plant compound traditionally used for strength and stamina. In a ten-week trial, young men who took ecdysterone alongside strength training gained more muscle and more bench-press strength than those who didn't, with no signs of harm to the liver or kidneys.²⁰ Ecdysterone isn't a banned substance, but the World Anti-Doping Agency monitors it, so competitive athletes should check the current rules first.

Adaptogens aren't a substitute for food, rest and good training. They suit different constitutions (see The Architecture of Balance), so it's best to choose them with a practitioner rather than self-prescribe.

At Rootwise, we support athletes to perform at their best while protecting their long-term health. Every athlete is different, and a personal plan that takes in your sport, training, constitution and digestion can make the difference between simply training hard and truly thriving. There's no single secret: the natural edge comes from fuel, sleep, recovery, a healthy gut and a calm mind, all supporting one another, day after day. (See Vital Force.)