Sports Performance & Recovery
Improve skill, strength, endurance and recovery naturally.
Nutritional and herbal medicine can help you reach your full potential. Gain the natural edge on your opponents and improve your athletic performance with our naturopath’s recommendations!
Natural Clinic Clinical Guide to Sports Performance
Book your appointment with a qualified practitioner who will…
Work with you to discover where your gains can be optimised!
Reveal nutrient sensitivities and deficiencies impacting your performance
Identify any underlying areas of health that require optimisation
Provide expert dietary and lifestyle coaching to improve athletic outcomes
Give you access to practitioner-grade nutritional and herbal medicine and compounded medicines tailored specifically for you and your performance goals
Book now to optimise your sports performance.
Book AppointmentTo learn more about how herbal and nutritional medicine can support your sports performance and athletic goals,
read on for our Natural Clinic Clinical insights into sports performance.
Natural Clinic Sports Performance Consult: $75
Natural Clinic Clinical Guide to Sports Performance
Sports performance has four major dimensions; skill, strength, endurance and recovery.
While every sport requires an acquired skill, some are solely based on skill and concentration e.g. target shooting and chess, while others may benefit from endurance and strength e.g. marathon runners and/or weightlifters. Therefore, high performance in any sport requires a characteristic blend of these dimensions which is dependent on the metabolic needs of your chosen sport.
This is an important consideration to make when wanting to improve your athletic performance, as it can determine where to place additional support to achieve the best outcomes and energy production.
HOW TO OPTIMIZE ENERGY PRODUCTION
No matter which type of energy system your using, aerobic (with oxygen) or anaerobic (without oxygen) your energy production is dependent upon several factors;
- Healthy digestive function and clean varied diet
- Appropriate balance of macronutrients (protein, carbohydrates and fats)
- Addressing increased demands of specific micronutrients such as magnesium, potassium, B-vitamins, zinc, iron, calcium and antioxidants
- For females – healthy menstrual cycle and thyroid function
- Ensuring healthy adrenal function and optimal adrenal hormone profile
- Blood sugar stabilization and optimal glucose metabolism
Working with a naturopath can help optimise the above and address any underlying weaknesses.
Remove the guessing-game and get results.Choosing your supplements
SUPPLEMENTS TO SUPPORT ENERGY PRODUCTION
May enhance physical performance and recovery by contributing to the production of energy via fatty acid metabolism. Useful for endurance athletes and runners.
We recommend Metagenics Acetyl-L-Carnitine
Important for all your energy-producing pathways. Required for the synthesis of red blood cells and the repair of damaged muscle cells.
We recommend Biopractica GenoMulti Active B
Another key player in energy production pathways. Also involved in normal muscle function and glucose metabolism. Helps reduce lactate accumulation in your muscles, which means longer and more intense activity levels can be attained before burning out. An essential for all athletes!
We recommend Biopractica Magnesium Diasporal
Deficiencies in CoQ10 can increase oxidative stress which can impact performance. CoQ10 is also an important player in the electron transport chain which helps produce ATP (cellular energy). Supplementation can improve your anaerobic threshold. Perfect for the higher intensity workouts or sports such as BJJ, sprints, wrestling, HIIT workouts, powerlifting.
We recommend Eagle CoQ10 150mg 90 Soft Gel Capsules
Mental performance is just as important as the physical when it comes to competition based sports. L-theanine has been shown to reduce anxiety within 30-40 minutes of taking. Dose between 50-100mg is effective, you can take up to 400mg safely. Mix this in with your magnesium for extra pre-comp nerve support.
We recommend Designs for Health L-theanine 100g
Herbal Medicine to boost sports performance and recovery
Considered “the Vikings herb”, rhodiola was chewed on by the vikings before battle as it was used to promote strength and endurance. Research has now shown rhodiola to be useful in enhancing aerobic capacity as it promotes fatty acid utilization and has strong antioxidant effects. This herb has shown to decrease heart rate at maximal training and improve endurance in athletes.
A potent adaptogen and anti-stress herb, withania has shown to increase VO2 max in athletes. Also useful in post-exercise recovery and fatigue.
The active constituents are known as ‘ginsenosides’ which have been shown to bind directly to cells in your brain altering the affect of stress-related processes in the body. Ginsengs have also shown to improve glucose metabolism, mental acuity and processing and motor function and reaction time.
Shown to boost testosterone in males, improving strength and endurance.
Intense exercise (for greater than 90 minutes) can decrease immune fighting capacity for up to 72 hours. Supporting athletes with anti-viral, anti-bacterial, immune enhancing herbs can help reduce chances of infection and fatigue. Echinacea can be used to boost immune system and also acts as an adaptogen supporting energy production and resilience.
Repair and recovery
Whether you are suffering from a particular injury, or more generalized post-muscle recovery soreness, herbal and nutritional medicine can be useful in helping support tissue repair, improving quality of sleep and restoring your nervous system.
Try supplementing with some of the below:
Vitamin A, C & E
Antioxidant support. Excessive exercise increases free radical production. Vitamin C and E help mop up free radicals, preventing DNA damage and promote tissue recovery. As well as boosting the immune system which can sometimes become reduced in excessive exercise.
Fish oils & SPMs
Fish oils & SPM’s can take your recovery to the next level. Providing a targeted anti-inflammatory support to your nervous and musculoskeletal system. Useful to reduce pain associated with muscle soreness post exercise.
Boswellia & Ginger
Potent anti-inflammatories to help restore muscle and joint function, reduce stiffness and increase circulation.
Magnesium salt baths
Improve detoxification of lactic acid as well as muscle relaxation and recovery.
Optimise sleep
- High dose magnesium & PEA – Nervous system support and pain management.
- Kava, valerian, passionflower – Sleep herbs can improve sleep duration and quality. Important for muscle repair and nervous system restoration. Also important for consolidation of memory, particularly important in highly skilled sports like martial arts.
- Herbal Melatonin – support circadian rhythm and sleep quality.
See our sleep management page for more information on how to optimize your sleep.
Hydration is key!
Research has shown a loss equal to 2% of body weight causes a noticeable decrease in physical and mental performance in athletes. Losses of 5% or more of body weight may decrease your capacity for work by roughly 30%!!
Role of water;
- Maintains blood volume
- Regulates body temperature
- Involved in muscle contractions and circulation
- Supports all biochemical reactions that are required to take place
Water intake for females and male athletes may vary depending on the activity level. Opting between 3-5L is ideal. Try adding some electrolytes to your water mix to improve water uptake and cellular hydration.
We recommend trying the Biopractica Basica Active E
Nutritional Compound for Athletic Performance
Tired of taking multiple supplements to support your sports performance?
Let us narrow it down to one that works.
Whether your goal is better performance, strength, concentration or recovery, we can help identify the right supplements for you and create your own unique blend in therapeutic doses.
We can compound ONE product that contains all the ingredients you need for optimal sports performance.
The benefits:
- Ease & convenience of taking only one supplement
- Your body is unique to you. Your medicine should also be unique to you.
- Avoid the inconcenience of supplements in your protocol running out at different times.
- Dosing is specific to your metabolic needs & deficiencies.
- Formula can be adjusted over time to support each stage of the healing process.