Ashwagandha for Athletes: Strength, Endurance and Recovery

From everyday athletes to weekend warriors to elite professionals, athletic people of all types are looking for supplements to help them achieve optimum fitness.

They all are looking for two things in particular: increased performance to maximize their workout and enhanced recovery to ensure they stay on track—all without unhealthy synthetics. However, this is not so easy to find! On the popular market, many performance enhancers use stimulants like caffeine, which lead to an eventual energy crash. Or they use calmatives for recovery that leave you feeling sluggish and dull. No one wants that!

Instead, we’re looking for a safe and natural alternative that provides endurance and recovery benefits, while also promoting overall health and wellness. Enter ashwagandha.

Read on and learn about how ashwagandha can help achieve your optimum fitness…

This ancient herb supports peak performance of both the mind and the body.

Ashwagandha is an Ayurvedic herb and medicinal plant, with a 4,000-year history addressing stress, strain and fatigue, while also promoting muscle strength, energy, sexual vitality and cognitive health. Historically, most ashwagandha use has been toward stress relief, focused on the “mind” benefits of ashwagandha. Recently, it has started to be recognized for the “body” benefits, with respect to sports and active lifestyles.

This ancient herb is being actively supported by scientific studies. Researchers are exploring and confirming ashwagandha’s many mind and body benefits desired by today’s sophisticated wellness-focused athletes.

You body will benefit from increased stamina and reduced recovery time, along with healthy management of muscle and fat.

As a powerful adaptogen, ashwagandha increases an individual’s ability to adapt to environmental factors. At the same time, it helps to reduce the damage to the body from these factors. It helps the body to maintain a balanced state while under physical stress and improves recovery time. In addition, ashwagandha doesn’t produce the “spike and crash” effect like conventional athletic stimulants.

In particular, this ancient herb has been clinically proven to increase cardio-respiratory response. This leads to reduced fatigue and improved stamina. For example, in a controlled study over 12 weeks, a group of 49 healthy, active adults were supplemented with either ashwagandha or placebo twice daily.¹ The herbal group showed up to a 13.6 percent increase in maximum oxygen consumption. Participants also self-reported an increase in their physical and psychological health and social relationships.

Yet another benefit for athletes is ashwagandha’s proven ability to improve the results of their efforts: muscle strength, lean body mass, and body fat percentage. In another recent study, ashwagandha produced a marked increase in serum testosterone levels (up to and over 15 percent!), which was associated with muscle growth and increased strength. Most notably, those taking the ingredient experienced a 17.1 percent increase in arm muscle size, and a 16.1 percent reduction in average body fat.

Your mind will benefit from positive cognitive effects, from decreasing stress to improving focus.

Training and performance is physical work that requires significant mental strength and control. Unlike other performance enhancers on the market, ashwagandha boasts many cognitive benefits to support this overlooked aspect of athletic training.

Ashwagandha has long been documented as a stress reliever. It has been used in this way in India for thousands of years. In addition, new research is confirming its ability to improve focus, concentration, and calm. In one study, researchers concluded that, by reducing serum cortisol levels by about 28 percent, ashwagandha can safely and effectively improve an individual’s resistance towards stress.²  This results in self-assessments of improved quality of life.

The general population, far beyond the athletic world, can enjoy from these cognitive benefits. Athletes, in particular, will understand how this heightened level of concentration and focus can dramatically benefit their training and performance. With an increasingly holistic view of fitness, athletes are now recognizing the power of a healthy mind to support a healthy body.

Looking to achieve your optimum fitness? Ashwagandha is a safe and natural choice to support the health and well-being of your body and mind.